High-Tech Boom Drives Luxury Home Sales

The high-tech employment surge is beginning to have an impact on the Orange County housing market, particularly new home communities.

Experts say the luxury home sales are booming, thanks to wealthy techies moving into more lavish digs and new executives moving in from other areas of the state.

The numbers tell the story. Last year, only three new home communities priced above the $250,000 mark were considered hot sellers (meaning 1.7 or more homes sold there a week.) This year, 12 projects fall into that category, and seven of them are priced above $300,000, according to a new study by E&Y; Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group.

“The move-up market has stoked up in the nine months,” economist Walter Hahn said. “Home builders have seen that and a lot of them have shifted upward in terms of house sizes and prices.”

But Hahn said there are other reasons for the increase in pricey home sales. Most of the land available for development is in expensive areas, such as Irvine, Huntington Beach and Coto de Caza.

Melinda Fulmer covers real estate for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7832 and at melinda.fulmer@latimes.com